Senators of the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs,
I am writing to you in your capacity as a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to demand immediate federal action regarding the widespread and ongoing abuse of tribal disenrollment. What has occurred—and continues to occur—within gaming tribes is a profound civil rights failure, enabled by federal inaction and rewarded by federal policy. Frankly, your committee is 20 years overdue in acting to protect over 11,000 Native Americans.
I am one of thousands of Native Americans who have been forcibly removed from our tribes since the advent of Indian gaming. These removals are not coincidental. The overwhelming majority of mass disenrollments occur in tribes operating casinos, where the motive is clear and undeniable: fewer members mean larger per capita payments for those who remain. This is not sovereignty. This is profiteering through the systematic erasure of people.
In my own tribe, known then as the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians of Temecula, California, approximately 250 people—fully 25% of the tribe—were stripped of membership without due process. With that act, we lost our civil rights, our voting rights, access to healthcare, education assistance, and our lawful and rightful per capita distributions. Families were torn apart. Elders and ancestors were erased. Children were punished for something they could not possibly control.
Most disturbingly, Pechanga officials physically removed children from their school on the reservation, escorting them out and informing them they were not to return because they were “no longer Pechanga.” These were children who had grown up knowing only one identity—that they were Pechanga. The trauma inflicted by that moment cannot be overstated. Children lost their school, their friends, their community, and their sense of self overnight.
This is not an internal administrative matter. This is abuse.
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| Paulina Hunter Died 1899 Disenrolled 2006 |
My ancestor is Paulina Hunter. My family has always been, and remains, Pechanga. 94 adult members of my family—despite incontrovertible proof of lineage—were disenrolled. We possess hundreds of certified documents from both state and federal sources affirming our ancestry. Even more damning, the tribe itself hired the foremost anthropological expert in California, Dr. John Johnson, who concluded in a detailed twelve-page report that, based on the preponderance of evidence, Paulina Hunter was Pechanga. The tribe simply ignored the expert testimony it paid for.
Council members slept through hearings. Conflicts of interest—including land disputes dating back over a century—were never disclosed or addressed. Bias was blatant. Due process was nonexistent. We had no attorneys allowed and we could not confront our accusers. Venezuelan dictator Maduro is afforded more rights
The financial incentive is equally blatant. After my family and another were removed, per capita payments rose from approximately $250,000 annually to more than $350,000 per person. Elders who lived and died as Pechanga are now posthumously declared “non-Indian” by a vote. My aunt was buried in the tribal cemetery with the assistance of the Tribal Chairman, who publicly praised her as a proud Pechanga member. Today, the tribe denies she ever belonged.
This is not an isolated case. Across the country, disenrollment has been used as a weapon. In the Cherokee Nation, 2,800 Black Cherokee Freedmen were stripped of citizenship. When public officials such as Assemblymember Diane Watson spoke out against this injustice, they were targeted for doing the right thing. That retaliation alone demonstrates how deeply entrenched—and protected—these abuses have become. Thankfully, that case was taken up by the Cherokee Courts and the Freedmen won their treaty rights. Because of Congress's inaction, people have lost their homes, their health and their lives.
Let me be clear: no amount of money justifies the federal government rewarding the destruction of civil rights. Is this truly what Congress intends to endorse?
Tribal sovereignty was never meant to be a shield for human rights abuses. When sovereignty is used to disenfranchise citizens, erase families, and traumatize children for financial gain, it becomes the responsibility of the federal government to intervene.
This matter demands congressional hearings, federal oversight, and legislative reform. At minimum, it demands your attention and action. Silence is no longer defensible.
Our family, along with many others nationwide, has documented these abuses publicly at:
http://originalpechanga.com
I urge you to review the evidence and to act. The federal government has both the authority and the moral obligation to protect Native citizens from being stripped of their identity and rights for profit. Anything less is complicity.
I am formally requesting your moral leadership in investigating tribal disenrollment practices and in supporting concrete measures that protect the civil rights of all Native people.
Respectfully,
Rick CuevaS
Descendant of Paulina Hunter
Owner Original Pechanga's Blog
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